Littleton Robotics host open house at new location

The excitement for technology was palpable at the first open house for the Littleton Robotics group at the organization's new location on Harvard Road.

Students in grades seven through 12 were on hand, dressed in blue and yellow t shirts and hats sporting the name of their new facility at 20 Harvard Road, the former R&D Building, which Patriot Beverages donated to the growing group this past school year. The group moved into the space in December of 2017.

Littleton Robotic President Katie Bonner said she is thrilled with the constant growth of the group, which was only founded a year ago.

She said with the hard work of, parents, volunteers and the students involved they have been able to bring in children from communities all over the region, which not only diversifies the teams, but give students the chance to explore robotics, sometimes for the first time.

She also thanked the all of the local businesses who have lent their time, talent and funding to the group. Most recently they received a check from New England Clean Energy during the the open house to help support their ongoing projects.

To learn more about the organization and see a full list of their sponsors go to website, littletonrobotics.org.

Bonner said the group is not affiliated with the school district, but they have been very supportive of their plan to instill the love of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) in students at many grade levels.

"I took over as president this fall," said Bonner. "I decided to take on that roll because I had seen what it had done for my son his first year as a programmer. It was important to me to help support what was important to him."

The group took their talents all the way to the FRC World Championships in St. Louis, Missouri in 2017, a huge step for the rookie team, but not a huge surprise to Bonner and the rest of the volunteers who could see the talent and passion of the team members.

"What I like about the FIRST program is it gives kids exposure and experience into a 'real world' engineering project from start to finish," said said. "From initial design, to requirements, through [building,] through debugging and figuring out problems, through redoing things, all of the way to an end product."

FIRST is a nation program designed to inspire students into a passion for STEM through hands-on work and the guidance of leaders in the industry.

Bonner added it's not all about building a robot, the children involved also learn how to plan events, budget, write proposals and communicate with businesses.

Recent Worcester Polytechnic Institute graduate and Littleton robotic volunteer Zach Temple of Bolton said he wanted to help a new generation of future programmers and developers find what they love as he had through groups like the one in Litteton.

"It is good program," said Temple. "[Being in a leadership role,] is stressful, there is a lot going on. But we all do it because it is a good thing and we want to see these guys have a change to have the same opportunities we've had."

For eighth grader Hallie Farmer, 14, of Bolton the last three years she has spend learning about and creating robots have been some of the most fun when it comes to finding the confidence to create something and make friends with the same interest and passion.

"My first year in sixth grade, in Bolton, I had done it for a year and we went to [a] competition and then I was like, 'man this is so cool,'" said Farmer who said she hopes to keep on learn more through the team and would even like to take her love of STEM and make it into a career the future.